ALBANY — Gov. Paterson yesterday delivered what may be the ultimate punishment to state senators — he barred them from leaving sleepy Albany for the entire weekend.

Paterson also threatened legal action against them and a freezing of their pet “member item” pork-barrel projects.

But in a move that infuriated legislators, Paterson ordered the Senate, which has been paralyzed for nearly three weeks in the wake of a Republican coup, to report to work at 1 p.m. today and at 6 p.m. tomorrow for two more “extraordinary,” or special, sessions.

That will keep lawmakers stuck in the Capitol, away from their homes, families and districts.

The Senate held its fourth special session in a row yesterday but, as in the previous gatherings, the 31 Democrats and 31 Republicans met separately, and none of the legislation Paterson said had to be passed by Tuesday, including Mayor Bloomberg’s proposal to extend mayoral control of city schools, was approved.

“That’s not work, that’s dereliction of the duty,” Paterson charged.

“The clock is ticking on valuable pieces of legislation with significant impact to the wallets and pocketbooks of all New Yorkers.

“If New York City does not have mayoral control by June 30, it will throw chaos into the process, harming city schoolchildren.”

Paterson said he directed his lawyers to go to state Supreme Court for an order forcing lawmakers to meet with a legal quorum of at least 32 members, and not in separate party gatherings.

“Thirty-one members does not constitute a quorum. It’s a farce,” he said.

The governor also said he was freezing the processing of politically popular pork-barrel “member items” in order to pressure lawmakers to get back to work.

“The member-item process is over . . . These senators want to continue to spend taxpayer money on their pet programs while the people of the state are about to pay taxes for their inaction,” said Paterson, who is also seeking passage of legislation he said would avoid increases in local property taxes.

Republican and Democratic senators quickly noted that the Senate had not yet approved member-item projects for this year.

And, citing progress being made in an effort to resolve the leadership battle, they said many projects that still remain to be funded from previous years are unlikely to be held up for more than a week or two.

The Democratic governor, meanwhile, refused to respond to scathing personal attacks leveled against him on Thursday by senators of his own party.

“I am not going to be overreacting to defamation,” he said. “I’m not going to be intimidated by personal attacks.”

The harshest attack — in response to Paterson’s criticisms of both Republican and Democratic senators — came from Sen. Kevin Parker (D-Brooklyn), who called the governor “a coke-snorting, staff-banging governor.” He later apologized.

Sen. Carl Kruger (D-Brooklyn) called Paterson incompetent and said “the man actually looks like he’s talking to the dog at night, getting his advice.”

Paterson on Thursday directed the state treasurer to refuse to pay per diem and travel expenses to senators, and he asked state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli to consider blocking the lawmakers’ salaries.